Is Political Evil Built Into Religion? [new Theist vs. Atheist series column]

The opening of my latest column in the Theist vs. Atheist debate series at EveryJoe:

“We live in good times for religion and politics. The great majority of us are free to practice or not religion as we choose. That has been rare in human history, as politicians have generally enjoyed using religion as a political tool, and as religious leaders have almost always tried to employ politics for religious purposes.

“My assumption in this article is that some sort of liberal-democratic-republicanism is the best politics. So our question is: Does religion support or undercut such politics?

“It is common in debates such as these for atheists to cite the long history of fanaticism, torture, and war that religion has caused and for theists to respond that such evils are aberrations and that their own preferred religion, properly interpreted, is innocent of such charges.